FGC first half net profit up 80 %

Russia's Federal Grid Company saw its first half 2011 net profit rise 80 percent year-on-year to 22.8 billion rubles ($736 million) to IFRS, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. First half revenue grew 26 percent in the first six months of 2011 to 71.2 billion rubles as a result of the tariff growth and an increase in the provision of the transmission services across all regions, the company said . EBITDA increased 42 percent to 45.4 billion rubles as a result of higher operational efficiency, the firm said. “This has been a solid six-month period as the company successfully delivered on all its performance targets with strong operational and financial performance and good progress in the execution of our investment program," Federal Grid  Chief Financial Officer Andrei Kazachenkov was quoted as saying.